Growler stations grow in Greenville

07:03 PM, March 14, 2013 |

By Eric Connor

There’s something about beer poured straight from the tap.

For one, it’s just … better.

However, for me — and I know for the teammates who congregate late-night to break down how we blew the B-league basketball game — this serving comes as you elbow your way to the bar and talk over the din of hundreds of conversations.

That’s not to say it’s the way it has to be. There are other options. And one in particular offers the unique opportunity to enjoy all of this at home.

The growler: quality beer to go, filled in a sealed jug usually 64 or 32 ounces, designed to drink within a day.

And it’s not just that it’s higher-quality beer. It’s often craft beer that you can’t buy from a shelf to take home.

It might be the experimental one-off or seasonal from a well-respected brewery.

At taprooms like the North Main area’s Community Tap, the West End’s Greenville Growler Station and downtown’s Greenville Beer Exchange, a growler-fill often follows a tasting, where a brewery rep will “take over” the store’s taps and describe the ever-important story behind the brew.

Video: Learn the art of filling a growler

The way it works: Buy your growler (one-time purchase) and refill it for the cost of the beer tapped into it. You clean it at home. Taprooms will sterilize the growler upon its return.

The jug — amber-colored to help block UV light that zaps the beer into a “skunked” smell — is topped with either a twist cap or porcelain gasket top with a metal hinge and the type of beer written on the back.

And there’s an art to it (and the requisite debates about which filling methods work best).

The key is to avoid oxidation. An open growler is good for no more than 48 hours. Each time the container is turned upside-down for pouring, CO2 is released. Some beers will keep decently carbonated overnight, others will flatten within hours.

At Community Tap, the growler is “bottom-filled” with a tube extending to the bottom of the container to avoid passage through oxygen, co-owner Ed Buffington says. The beer rises as it pushes oxygen out and is capped once the foam overtops, keeping as much CO2 inside as possible.

At the Growler Station, manager Pierre Goulette uses a machine — like, he says, “something out of ‘Star Trek’ — that uses “counter-pressure” to fill the growler with a shot of CO2 into the bottle before it’s capped.

The pressurization, Goulette says, allows a growler to be stored for as much as six months.

In general, growlers are best opened within a few days, though they can last for up to a week or two, depending on the type of beer. Growlers sealed with a hinge cap have a little more longevity, Buffington says.